Saying Goodbye
by Miller0259
Summary: He didn't know why she couldn't say goodbye. C/DG Now complete!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Saying Goodbye  
Characters: DG/Cain  
Timeline: Post eclipse -in-consequential  
Rated M for later  
Genre: Angst/Smut.  
Summary: He didn't know why she couldn't say goodbye.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tin Man.

A/N: This is unbeta'd, so just go with it.

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_She tried to continue with daily tasks._

_She tried to move on, business as usual._

_But she couldn't forever ignore the vice like grip that had been slowly tightening around her heart._

_He was leaving in a week._

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_He was finally settled into his new life._

_He was comfortable with the new people and leadership._

_He was glad to finally be done with the fighting._

_He was starting over at last._

_He was leaving in 5 days._

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_She had been avoiding him over the last few weeks. _

_She didn't start it deliberately. _

_But pretty soon she found that it helped the pain in her chest to not see him as often. See him happy, see him relaxed. _

_He was leaving in 3 days._

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_He noticed that she was acting differently. Distant._

_He didn't like it._

_He wanted to see the light in her eyes again. Share amused looks with him over Glitch's attempts at brilliance._

_He was going to miss her._

_He was leaving in two days._

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_She was going to have to say goodbye._

_She didn't want to say goodbye. She couldn't even bear to see him._

_She couldn't watch him ride away from her while she stood among her family and friends._

_She could maybe avoid him for just a-_

"Whoa there, Princess."

A familiar pair of hands steadied her as she bounced off of his chest. She glanced up to his face and the air wooshed out of her and her heart seemed to stop.

"You alright there, DG?" His kind blue eyes studied her face and a hand brushed up her arm in a comforting gesture. The pain lessoned and her heart started again with a dull throb.

"I'm – I'm fine." She looked away but kept glancing back in an effort to make her lie less apparent. "Sorry, I uh…"

"Was too busy avoiding me?" he supplied. She could hear his attempt at humor, along with the accusation hiding behind it.

Her smile came out like a wince. "I was looking for you actually," she blurted before her mind could catch up with her mouth. She chanced another glance up but immediately looked away again as she found his gaze comforting. Amused. Oblivious to her pain.

"That so?"

"That's so," she nodded, still avoiding his face.

"Mmmhmmm…" he gestured to their surroundings. "In the abandoned wing of the palace." He observed.

She stopped nodding.

"Around lunch time." He was unimpressed.

So was she, to be honest. She just _knew _he was thin lipped and had his head tilted so that if he were wearing a hat, his eyes would be barely visible and his glare would be oh-so-effective. The look that made her want to admit anything. The pain in her chest throbbed again. No, she certainly couldn't share that.

Better just say goodbye and get it over with then.

She blinked a few times to gather herself after his remark. She took a deep breath to steel herself and let her eyes flicker back to his and hold there for longer than a split second.

"I wanted to say, Goodbye, Mr. Cain." She looked away again. It was too much. The vice around her heart feels like a hand now, and it was pulling her towards him. "And good luck." Her voice almost caught, and she hugged his middle briefly to hide as she blinked away the tears that were starting to form. "Have a safe trip."

She was pulling away before he could barely hug her back. She was about to break into a run when she hears him.

"Wait!"

She stops.

One painful heartbeat.

Two.

A third.

"Why won't you look at me?" he asks quietly. Barely above a whisper. The vice-hand tugs her back slightly. He sounds hurt.

She brings a hand up to brush a tear from her face. A war is waging inside of her now. Tell him or no? Risk their friendship? Risk one of the best relationships she's had in her whole life?

No. She starts to move away but he catches her wrist.

"Why not, DG?" his voice is almost desperate. Her heart is yanked backward again.

"I can't," she sounds distraught, as she tries to pull her wrist free.

"Yes you can!" he urges her as his grip tightens.

"No!" Her heart is breaking.

"Tell me!" his voice is no longer gentle. It's angry. "Tell me, DG!"

"Because I wouldn't let you leave!"

He stills and so does she, as her voice seemed to echo in the deserted corridor. More painful heartbeats. Each worse than the last. Heavy with uncertainty.

His grip on her wrist lessons and she feels him move around in front of her. She looks down at his boots.

"What?" he barely breathes. His hands are at her elbows, he ducks down to catch her eye.

"I wouldn't let you leave," she whispers.

"What are you-" She finally glances up at him and he can see the pain in her eyes for the first time.

He is confused and searching her face for what is wrong. He still has no clue. She doesn't know how to explain it to him. Has no idea how to convey what is happening to her heart because he is leaving. The invisible force pulling her towards him is finally becoming too much.

She steps closer to him. She rests her hands on his chest lightly, and leans up on her tip-toes towards him. She hesitates, but he doesn't jerk back so she just dives in. She presses her lips to his and something electric happens inside of her. The vice around her heart melts away and she feels ten times lighter. She tries to press her long-harbored feelings for him into the kiss but at the same time, knows deep down, that she has just upturned her Tin Man's world again.

No. She couldn't do that to him again. She can't ask him to stop his plans, and forward progress in starting over, for her. Her heart aches again, this time with the absence of its oppressive weight of the past few months. She had to let him go.

She pulls back and lets out a shaky breath as she settles back on her heels, eyes still closed. She bites her lip and slowly opens her eyes to look at his chest where her right hand hovers over his heart. He remains frozen in place, his grip on her arms slackened in the shock of her kiss. She pats his heart, saying goodbye silently, and steps away from him.

He doesn't stop her as she moves past him and disappears down the hall.

He was leaving in the morning.

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A/N: Funny how these things work, yes? I set out for a smutty oneshot and out comes this. Apparently my muse is quite upset. Fortunately, this has snowballed into something more like a smutty _two_-shot.

So sit tight, and review if you might… ;)


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Saying Goodbye 2/2  
Characters: DG/Cain  
Timeline: Post eclipse -in-consequential  
Rated M for NOW! Hide the kiddies and be mindful of those reading over your shoulder!  
Genre: Angst/Smut.  
Summary: He didn't know why she couldn't say goodbye.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tin Man.

A/N: This is unbeta'd (AND 4755 WORDS LONG!?), so just go with it.

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_His Princess kissed him._

_His chest feels like the insides are being twisted._

_His friend and traveling companion had kissed him._

_His friend, who has avoided him for the better part of a _month, _could barely _look _at him or else she apparently wouldn't let him leave, had _kissed_ him._

_He had been married before and he _still_ doesn't understand women sometimes._

_She had skipped dinner and he didn't want their last encounter to be so…_

_His chest, the part in the center, feels unpleasantly squeezed at the thought of his departure tomorrow._

_He hasn't noticed a growing attraction there. All they did was spend time together with Glitch and Raw, sometimes eat together on their own when everyone was busy, get out of the palace together when one of them was stressed, joke with one another, save each other from dances at parties, laughing together, and-_

"Oh…" he breathes and stops walking towards her room. The center of his chest does something funny as a different something clicks into place in his mind.

He can't go to her room. His mind whirls. No, not now.

But will he still leave in the morning?

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_She stares at the ceiling and wonders why it's beige. _

_She reasons that it's not a hospital; it doesn't need to be soothing. Nothing can really _be _soothing. Not tonight._

_She kissed her best friend._

_She kissed her best friend who is going away and that she has to let go._

_Her friend who she should have let go without complicating things like she had._

_She's dreading tomorrow because their farewell in front of family and friends will be awkward and-_

He's knocking. She knows it's him knocking. Who else would it be? Tonight, especially.

But why now?

She gets up from her bed and slips her robe over her shoulders, not bothering to tie it. She doesn't bother to tame her hair because she knows it's a lost cause of waves and errant tufts. Dinner was hours ago, why hadn't he come then when she had skipped it? She pads softly to the door and pauses.

"Come on, come on…" she hears him muttering. Something in her stomach flip flops.

"Who is it?" she asks softly. He would kill her if she didn't check first.

There's a soft thud on the door and a sigh on the other side. "Can I talk to you?" he asks quietly. His voice is close; his forehead must be on the door.

She fights a smile. Of course he wouldn't directly answer her question.

She also fights the temptation to just talk through the door, and opens it slightly, her face blank, mouth pressed firmly shut. She leans against the door, the edge of it along her collarbone, a kind of partial shield as her other shoulder is on the doorframe. His head pulls back from the wood of the door quickly and she is brave enough to study his face for a few seconds.

It looks like he hasn't slept yet either. He is still dressed and his clothes are unwrinkled. He must have been pacing. But beyond that she can't read his expression to know what conclusion he had come to. He has obviously found one, considering he is here in the middle of the night.

He holds her gaze for a few long moments before he takes a deep breath. "I came to say goodbye," he says matter-o-factly.

She looks to the side for a second as her heart feels squeezed, and then back to him, her brows furrow slightly in question.

He shrugs one shoulder slightly and murmurs, "I didn't…get a chance to earlier…"

She looks down and breathes a laugh, fighting a smile. She really hadn't given him a chance, had she? She takes a step back from the doorway. "Sorry. I uh," she begins with a bit of a wince.

"No, it just…caught me off guard." She looks up to see he too, is fighting a smile.

She bites her bottom lip and looks down again, her cheeks pink.

"The thing is…" he begins, sounding nervous. She looks up quickly, the thing in her stomach, which she has now identified as a bunch of butterflies, has started moving again. Wyatt Cain never sounds nervous. "I…" he hesitates. "I can't say it."

She looks down and shook her head; of course he can't. "You don't have to how you feel or anything…"

She trails off she sees his boots step in front of her and the door is pushed open more. She looks up to see him _right_ in front of her. The butterflies are vibrating and her heart is doing the vice-grip thing again.

"No," he breathes. His ice blues bore into hers and she doesn't notice that she has stepped back or that he has followed her. The door shuts unnoticed behind him as he brings a hand up to her face. He brushes a thumb along her jaw as his palm goes to cup the back of her neck.

"I can't say goodbye," he whispers. The following silence seems to last a lifetime, before he _finally_ leans down. But he hesitates, just like she had this afternoon, before closing the distance between them and pressing his lips to hers.

Even though DG has hoped for this, and had a feeling it would happen when he showed up outside her door in the middle of the night, she _still_ feels caught off guard. The electric feeling from earlier returns tenfold and she knows she would have melted into the floor were it not for his arm slipping around her waist. She feels like the butterflies have lifted her heart to her throat and she forgets to breathe.

He slowly pulls back and she sags even more in his arms as she slowly lets out a breath. She hadn't realized that, despite her tingling legs, she had leaned up towards him. Or that she has been clutching both his forearm that was still near her face, and the bicep of his arm that has slipped to her side.

Her mind is incredibly blank. All previous thoughts have vanished and she stares at him, dazed. They just gaze at each other for a few moments until something clicks in DG's brain.

He can't say goodbye.

She blinks a few times, to ensure that she _is_ in reality, in his arms, and that he really is leaning closer and repeatedly looking at her lips that are begging to be kissed again. And then she is moving.

Her hands slide up his arms and around his neck as she rises up on her tip-toes and kisses him again, firmly. She moves her lips against his and he responds in kind. Slow at first, and more urgent as time passes, a glorious, increasingly wet friction that she thinks she will never grow tired of. They are swaying dangerously, but she could care less about gravity at the moment.

All that matters is that he is here. With her. Not saying goodbye.

Now both of his hands have found the thin fabric of her robe at her lower back, scrunching it in loose fists, as if anchoring his hands there, as well as holding her firmly against him. She can feel herself getting carried away, and wonders somewhere far in the back of her mind, if he is too.

Suddenly she is being spun around, and one of his hands leaves her back. She is alarmed until she feels her back being pressed against the door, rather than slammed. He pulls lips from hers and they both gasp for air. He still occasionally presses light kisses to her mouth. And then the kisses are trailed along her jaw, that spot below her ear and further down still, getting wetter and longer. His hands are gliding around her waist, up and down her back, lower and lower each time.

She is still trying to catch her breath, rubbing his shoulders and running her fingers up through his short hair. She needs him badly, but if she can only express that to him. But he would need to stop that wonderful thing he is doing on her collarbone.

She finally puts her hands on the sides of his neck and brings his face level with hers. His half lidded eyes find hers and she kisses him on the lips before she can stop herself.

"Bedroom," she whispers as she pulls back for a moment. It is a mixture of a command and a question. There is a pause before he captures her lips with a moan, and his hands bunch up the fabric of her robe again.

"Yes," he breathes, and pulls her away from the door and into another bone melting kiss. He walks backward a few steps, still kissing her, before breaking away so they won't crash into anything. She grabs his hand and leads him to her bed.

When they reach their destination, she turns around and gives him a timid smile, "I…" she doesn't know where to begin. She started out the day, not planning on telling him how she felt, proceeded to kiss him and then decide to let him go, and now they are standing at the foot of her bed holding hands. "I don't mean to rush. I just…" she trails off breathlessly at his hint of a smile.

"We don't have to-" he begins quietly.

"No! No…I mean I want...to…" she catches his amused look and her cheeks are burning, she just knew it. She looks towards the bed as she trails off, "well…" She shrugs and studies the sheets she had previously been laying on top of, flashes of what she hopes to be doing in about five minutes popping up in her head.

She glances up to see him also looking up from considering the bed.

The collar of his button up shirt is half-flipped up, and the actual shirt, wrinkled. She is quite astonished she had managed to keep her hands from wandering lower than his broad shoulders because for the love of God, he is wearing _those _pants. He looks incredibly attractive to her and allows herself a few seconds to secretly dance in her head because he has ended up returning her..attraction at least. She is fairly certain that her hair is even messier than it was when she answered the door, that her camisole had ridden up slightly, and in a brief moment of insecurity, that her sleep shorts are much shorter than she had previously thought.

They share a moment where it occurs to both of them that they had just seen similar images involving her bed in their heads, and that it had been almost a whole minute since they had last kissed.

They start towards each other at the same time. She pulls his face to hers and seals her lips over his as he pulls her flush against him. Their kisses grow more and more passionate and soon they are both pushing and pulling at each others' clothing. He has pushed her robe off of her shoulders but it is caught at her elbows because she is busy tugging his shirt out of his pants, having already unfastened them.

She breaks the kiss as she works on the buttons of his shirt. He brushes his hand up a bare arm and over her exposed shoulder as she kisses along his jaw. Her attention is on his shirt, and as his hand reaches the back of her neck, he refocuses her attention on his lips. She forgets all about the buttons for a moment and gets lost in the feeling of their tongues brushing together, and how his bottom lip feels when she sucks it between hers.

He has taken advantage of her distraction and pushes the robe off the rest of her arms. As it settles around their feet, she slides her hands under his shirt and up over his shoulders, pushing it down his arms. As he shrugs out of it, she admires the picture he makes.

Here is this man, her friend, her savior in a way. Shirtless with his pants unfastened and eyes only for her. Her mind skids to a halt as her eyes roam downward. She hadn't realized she had stopped running her fingers through the soft hair on his chest until he reaches up and takes her hands in his. She blushes, but he only smirks at her.

He raises her hands above her head and leaves them there, trailing his own down her arms and sides to her waist. He finds the hem of her camisole and lifts it up slowly, brushing her bare skin along the way.

As he pulls it over her head and free of her hair, she fights the urge to bring her arms down quickly and cover herself. He must have sensed her insecurity because he gently pulls her arms down and then pulls her closer to him with one of his own. He brings a hand up to her face and brushes a hair away. He catches her gaze as he raises one of her hands to his lips and kisses her palm.

She sways a little on the spot and gives him a coy smile. The butterflies are definitely back.

"This is weird," she whispers before she can stop herself. "It's not a bad thing!" She says quickly when he tenses. "It's just…" she searches for the right word. "…different?" She gives him a nervous smile which he returns.

"Weird," he nods, apparently testing the term as he absently pulls her flush against him.

Like she had seen earlier, there is definitely no problem on his end with their current situation. It looks like he is about to say something else when he catches her glancing down between them, where their middles are pressed together, her lips making an 'O.'

She lets out a shaky breath as his eyes become hooded and he runs his hands up the now bare skin of her back.

"Right…" she breathes, and they slowly discard the last of the barriers between them.

When they straighten, she pauses to take in the full picture and so does he. Their scrutiny doesn't last long because soon the absence of touch is too much and they are leaning towards each other again.

His tongue delves into her mouth and recedes, entreating hers to follow as she moans. They kiss unhurriedly, and her hands roam his bare skin, just as his do to her. She trails her nails up his back and he shivers. His hands roam low and cup her ass, kneading the flesh there. She arches into him and drags her nails down his back as she moans. His answering groan is followed by a gentle push on her hip towards the bed.

She takes the hint and places a knee on the bed, pulling him after her, not wanting to break the kiss. Soon they are both kneeling on the bed and he his laying her down gently and settling on top of her. She sighs and takes a deep breath as he begins to trail kisses down her neck like he did earlier, on the other side, this time.

She moans again as his hands slide up her stomach and find her breasts. He squeezes them and rolls his thumbs over her nipples as his trail of wet kisses moves lower. She thinks she can't take much more of this when his mouth finally captures her right nipple. She whimpers and bends a knee, sliding her foot up his leg along the way.

He hums in approval at her response, and how she has opened her legs more. It allows him to slip closer to her hot center that is now pulsing with need. As his mouth moves to her left breast, he trails a hand down her side and thigh, and guides her other leg up to wrap around his hip.

She has had enough of his teasing and pulls his face up to hers, kissing him thoroughly. This time, they both moan as the movement caused him to bump into her center, giving them a taste of what was to come. She snakes a hand between them and runs her fingers down over her mound and dips into her moist folds slightly. He breaks the kiss and glances down to see what she is doing. He groans at the sight of her spreading her wetness over herself and her palm. Then her hand finds his shaft and strokes from the base to the tip, and he moans again, letting his head fall to the crook of her neck, eyes squeezed shut in ecstasy.

She is impressed by the size of him and she is practically vibrating at the thought of having him inside of her. She strokes him again, and rubs her thumb over the head this time. He hums on her skin, and his hips move slightly in time with her continued strokes.

Soon he stills her hand looks into eyes. She can tell he wants to say something, and she feels like she should too. But nothing comes to mind. She gives him a slight one shouldered shrug and the corners of her mouth turn up. His mouth twitches into a half smile too and they silently agree that words aren't needed.

He kisses her sweetly and removes her hand. He slowly breaks the kiss, but remains close, their breaths mingling. The invisible force pulling her heart towards him is stronger than ever. He brushes the head of his penis against her wet folds and she breathes in sharply. He centers himself and pushes himself slowly inside, eyes locked on hers. Her breaths are shallow as he stretches and fills her and she can tell he is refraining from going too quickly. Soon he closes his eyes and she follows suit, concentrating on the feeling. She tightens her legs around his hips to smoothly pull him the rest of the way in. She gasps as he slides in to the hilt and he exhales sharply.

Their eyes slowly open and find one another. She searches his face, for what, she doesn't know. And then she is kissing him and he is slowly beginning to rock back and forth. The rocking gives way to stroking and soon he is pumping in and out of her and she has to break the kiss in order to breathe.

She's rocking in time with his thrusts and she moans when he twists in an especially pleasant way. She leans up and sucks on the skin just below his ear. As he leans down a bit more to give her better access to his neck, her hands wander down his back in firm caresses. As she kisses down his neck, her hands finally find purchase on his perfect ass, giving it a squeeze with just a hint of her nails, as she bites and then sucks hard on the skin just above his collarbone.

His hips jerk as he loses his rhythm with a surprised grunt. He stills and pulls his head back to look at her, somewhat incredulous. They breathe heavily, even as one of his hands is trailing down her left thigh from her hip, where it wraps up behind him. A faint mischievous smile plays on her lips. He apparently hadn't expected that.

His fingers run from the outside of her knee to the inside, and then pushes in between her leg and his hip. She blinks and her smile fades. When she looks back to his face she sees the beginnings of a smirk there and she knows he is going to try and one-up her.

His hand is now sliding down along the back of her thigh, lightly pushing her leg. He squeezes her bottom before running his hand up her side, pulling her knee up towards her chest in the process. Her knee is held in place by the crook of his elbow when his hand comes to rest under her shoulder, where it also holds him up.

His other hand pushes her right leg down along his own, encouraging her to keep it straight. Then he slides his hand around to her lower back to hold her to him as he shifts his knee outward.

She lets out a shaky breath at the sensation of being stretched differently. He pauses to let her adjust to this new arrangement before anchoring his hand on her hip.

And then he is moving again, and she calls out in surprise, her head flies back and she screws her eyes shut at the sensation. It's new and better and deeper, and he is hitting that most wonderful spot every time. Her hands twist the sheets beside her as she clutches them for dear life. She moans loudly and more frequently as he sets a steady pace. It's a damn good thing she is relatively flexible.

She opens her eyes and looks into his face. The concentration, along with the myriad of emotions she sees there, makes her heart sing. It's almost too much, and she reaches up and pulls his face down to kiss him again. It's short and their breaths are getting shorter.

He moves his hand from her hip and plants his elbow on the bed, also bunching the sheet in his hands as he pants next to her ear. Her hand finds his ass again, encouraging him to go deeper, harder. After awhile, he moans and she knows he is close. She arches her back and then his pelvic bone is bumping her clit with every stroke.

She calls out again and fights to keep her eyes open as she is pushed over the edge. His ice blues find hers as she pulses around him. He lets out another, particularly loud moan, his eyes flutter shut and he follows soon after her.

She lets her eyes close as he empties into her and he slumps over her. They both try to calm their breathing.

Inhale.

Exale.

In.

Out.

She just...

And it was good. VERY good.

She felt like her heart didn't exist anymore. Clearly it was beating, thundering is more like it, but at the same time, the tugging had disappeared, the cords severed. Her heart was no longer her responsibility.

She is staring at the ceiling again, and remembers what she had been thinking earlier, when gazing up at it.

But will he still leave in the morning?

TMTMTMTMTMTMTMTMTMTMTM

_Her hair smells nice._

_That is all he can think of, at first._

_And so he focuses on what the smell reminds him of._

_He frowns when all he can come up with is nothing other than just, pure DG._

_But it's true. The combination cannot be broken down. He cannot simply pick and choose which parts to acknowledge, he has to acknowledge all of them, together._

_That's when his mind skids to a halt and figures out why he can't say goodbye._

_She is a Princess. A charge. Trouble. Funny. Infuriating. Caring. Young. A beautiful woman. His friend. Savior. Companion. All in one._

_A part of him cares very deeply, most likely loves her. He can't choose to ignore that part of himself, or the parts of her that he loves so that he could leave. He loves the whole package._

He lifts himself off of her and kisses her jaw as he slides out of her. She moans a little at the loss, and he has to stop himself from trying to act years younger and start round 2 immediately. He kisses her soft lips as he eases her leg down, and he rolls over to her side. Before he can finish pulling the sheets down so they could get under them, she is reaching for him, to hold him back from leaving.

He gets up and turns back to look at her, seeing her worried look.

"I'm just getting the…" he grabs the sheets and pulls. It is like trying to pull a tablecloth from beneath a bunch of dishes. It gets about halfway out from under her and then she slides with it.

She gives a surprised yelp and bursts out laughing as she is pulled downward on the bed. He laughs with her a bit at the sight, but his ears feel like they were burning. That wasn't as smooth as he had envisioned.

"Sorry," he mutters as they both shift so they can be under the covers.

"It's ok," she laughs. "Just…give me a warning next time…"

Next time. Something in his chest feels lighter. He drapes the sheet over their naked bodies.

She snuggles into his side, an arm wraps around his middle and a leg drapes over his. He puts his arm around her and sighs.

They lay there for several minutes in silence. Her hand on his chest rests comfortably over his heart, as his thumb rubs circles just above her knee on the leg draped over his.

He thinks she is being quieter than normal. But then again, this wasn't normal for them.

Yet.

But before he can question her, they drift off into a deep sleep.

Hopefully he wakes up before the time he has been planning on leaving.

TMTMTMTMTMTMTMTMTMTMTM

_Her arm is asleep._

_But before she moves, images of a most vivid dream float in front of her._

_She clings to them as they begin to slip away. Why must all good things come to an end?_

_Her arm hurts and she concentrates on shifting her leg so she can roll over. She absently thinks that she doesn't remember ending up on her stomach, or getting under the covers last night. _

_Oh that's right, she remembers with a smile, Cain almost yanked her off of the bed in the process._

Her eyes fly open and her smile vanishes. It feels late in the morning. There's too much sunlight. She twists and looks around her on the bed.

He is gone.

She sits up with the sheet clutched to her front. Blood painfully rushes back into her arm. She winces and then feels the sheets beside her. Cold.

He apparently wasn't kidding when he said he couldn't say goodbye.

Tears start to build up around her eyes and she vaguely notices that her heart doesn't seem to hurt. She had given it away. There wasn't anything left. There was just an empty cavity now.

He really had left in the morning.

Then her toilet flushes and the sink is running.

She stares at the bathroom door incredulously.

The door opens a moment later and reveals him in pants and a halfway unbuttoned shirt. He glances up to see her frozen in place, wide-eyed, and he pauses.

"Hey," she murmurs, glancing to the side, and pushes some hair behind her hair. Her mind is whirling, but she can't focus on any one thought.

"Hey," he says softly. "I didn't mean to wake you." He makes his way over to the bed, leans down and kisses her forehead. "I had to tell Jeb I wasn't leaving, and I just got us breakfast," he motions towards the foot of the bed where she assumes a tray was, but she isn't easily distracted.

She turns her face up to him, eyes searching his. He smiles softly at her confused look, cups her jaw, and presses his lips to hers. Her hand finds his wrist before he pulls back, and he smiles when she doesn't let him go to walk around the bed.

"You're…staying?" she whispers. It's all her brain can handle to form those words right now.

Concern worries his face and he sits down on the edge of the bed. He brushes hair out of her face and looks her straight in the eye. "Of course I am, DG." At her still doubtful look, he elaborates, "I realized yesterday afternoon that I couldn't leave."

She presses her lips together and looks down as her cheeks slowly turn pink. He rubs a hand up and down her bare arm.

"Yeah?" she asks timidly. She fights a smile and he laughs softly.

"Yeah…" he confirms. His arms wrap around her bare back and she loops hers around his middle. "You're stuck with me for a good long while."

She smiles and kisses him. The hole in her chest starts to fill.

He is no longer leaving.

"That sounds a lot better than saying goodbye."

CDGCDGCDGCDGCDGCDGCDGCDGCDG

A/N: o.O Does the length make up for the wait? I sure hope so.

This tried to turn into a multi-chap, but I was like 'NO TIME, K THX!' Perhaps this verse will be revisited, but for now, C/DG are in a happy place and so I will let them revel in the new-ness on their own… Thanks for reading, and all of the support I got throughout. You guys rock!


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